1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to beverage dispensers and in particular to a modular automatic beverage dispensing assembly that can be added to an existing beverage dispenser.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various techniques have been proposed for providing automated systems for dispensing soft drinks such as the utilization of conveyor type systems whereby cups are automatically introduced to a continuously moving conveyor which receives the cups and processes them forward through a cup filling station, a cup capping station and a cup discharge station. The cup filling means travels forward synchronously with the conveyor belt while filling the cups and a heat sealing device is provided whereby caps are heat sealed to the rims of the cups while traveling forward. A discharge station is provided for automatically lifting and transferring the cups. Other techniques provide elaborate approaches for fulfilling each phase of a drink dispensing system such as at the ice dispensing station, the cap dispensing and sealing station or the beverage dispensing station, but these approaches have the overall disadvantage of being too large and/or expensive for utilization as a self-contained, compact post-mix drink dispensing system.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive and easy way to add automatic beverage dispensing capability to an ice-dispensing beverage dispenser.
It is another object of this invention to provide a narrow, modular, automatic beverage dispensing assembly for attachment to an ice dispenser.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such a modular assembly with two separate subassemblies to provide greater flexibility in installing and interfacing with an existing beverage dispenser.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a modular assembly with a compact, safe conveyor.
It is another object to provide an improved automatic ice dispenser.